Well, I never expected “I Luv Halloween” to be so… unusual. Surely, I was expecting a demented bit of Halloween celebration within a three volume graphic novel, but the Tokyo Pop tale of a group of kids who trick or treat no matter what, is kind of compelling. Compelling in that it’s often gory, sick, twisted, and features a group of children that take Halloween more seriously than I do. How often do you see a small girl bash a kid’s head in with a large rock with a bra, and pulling out his teeth joyfully after he steals her candy? Molars, yay!
Admittedly, the story of the town of Turgid Meadows rides off the rails after the second volume where the narrative becomes inexplicably horror based, but the spirit of Halloween in all its twisted faculties is here for enjoyment. It’s kind of tough to hate these characters, even when they’re being disgusting. Novel one is about the intense practice of trick or treating and the violent consequences that occur when local bully Bubbles decides to pick on the group of masked Halloween enthusiasts including Finch. The second volume is about a zombie apocalypse that doesn’t even stop the trick or treaters, and the third is about an alien invasion during Halloween. Again, the trick or treaters continue their practices with determination.
The third volume has a funnier element to it, as it features aliens mutilating people left and right as the trick or treaters go on their way from house to house. Much to the aliens confusion their weapon that can suck a woman’s insides turns out to inflict immense pleasure on them, and they have to fight a victim for the weapon when she insists on buying it. The characters are all horrifying in their ways, but entertaining. Finch is the skull faced leader who approaches every situation with logic and a clever plan, Moochie is his psychotic little sister who takes great pleasure in torturing people, Mr. Kitty is the perverted breast fiend who is obsessed with a busty neighbor they call “Nips,” Pig Pig is a goofy loon with a giant pig head he dons.
Finally, there’s–my favorite–Devil Lad, a masked kid with a devil mask who appears every year for Halloween to trick or treat with Finch and his pals. No one knows where he’s from, or why he only appears on Halloween, and no one seems intent on finding out. Most of the novels seem to be on a mission to find out how disturbing they can get and tests the limits of bad taste all around. Moochie is interested in finding out about a ‘bortionings (abortions) and tortures a local doctor to find out. When she finds an alien fetus, she is convinced it’s her unborn sister Becky-Beck, and tries to implant it in the corpse of a headless woman. And to get back at an old woman giving away apples for Halloween, Finch and friends stick razors in an apple and feed it to a cop, blaming the old woman. She dies of a heart attack as they’re taking her away to jail.
“I Luv Halloween” is really a sick and disturbed little bit of horror fiction, and I couldn’t stop reading it. Aside from the demented scripts, the art by Benjamin Roman is pretty fantastic, all around. I love his style of painting these kids as monsters beyond their environments. Their costumes often dictate their personalities, and Moochie especially takes her costumes literally. There’s never an indication where Turgid Meadows is, or why this reality exists, but it does answer one interesting question about a character in the final volume. And I liked that ambiguous explanation, all things considered. “I Luv Halloween” is definitely for folks with a warped sense of humor, and though I’m not the poster child for that brand of humor, I definitely did enjoy what was put to paper. Halloween, yay!